Delhi boy Gaurav Chandna travels to Mumbai to wish his “god”, superstar Aryan Khanna, on his birthday in the Friday release Fan. Big deal! Rieko Izuchi flew down to Calcutta all the way from Japan just to catch the first-day-first-show of Fan. As Calcutta trooped into cinemas bright and early on Friday, the enthusiasm of Shah Rukh Khan fans would have been matched only by the actor’s electric energy in his twin turns as superstar Aryan and his obsessed fan Gaurav. Star Theatre to Menoka, Salt Lake to South City, the Fan story on Friday was the same everywhere: frenzied fans, houseful boards and the promise to be back for a repeat watch over the weekend. “We are booked right through the weekend and even on the first few days of the week ahead,” said Pranab Roy of Menoka, where fans, dressed in SRK T-shirts and flaunting his signature stance, lined up from early morning till late in the evening. Metro hopped from Menoka and INOX (South City) in the south to Star Theatre and INOX (City Centre) in the north to track the Friday Fan frenzy.
Mufidul Islam was in a group of 15 SRK fans from Park Circus who landed up at Menoka in customised white T-shirts with “Khan’s Fan” printed on the back. “We wanted to look different from the rest and hence decided on these T-shirts. We don’t have a fan club dedicated to Shah Rukh Khan, but we are friends from the same neighbourhood who grew up idolising him. Any SRK release is a holiday for us… it’s Id for us,” said Mufidul, a self-confessed “paagal fan”.
The gang, which unanimously “loved” Fan, celebrates SRK’s birthday on November 2 every year. “We cut a big cake and go for dinner, followed by a drive. He is the best in the world and for him itna toh banta hain (this is the least he deserves),” said Imran Khan.
On a work-related trip to Mumbai in 2012, Mufidul had spent many hours in front of SRK’s home Mannat. “I kept vigil for many days, but couldn’t see him. If I ever get to meet him in person, I will lose my voice!” he smiled.
Ritwick Adhikari (second from right), a 17-year-old student from Basirhat woke up at 4am on Friday so that he could catch the first show of Fan at INOX (City Centre). “I have watched all Shah Rukh Khan movies on the day of release. From childhood, I have been collecting his posters and I am a huge fan of his. I loved the last scene of fan and got so emotional that I started crying,” said Ritwick, spotted taking a groupfie in front of the Fan poster with friends Debjyoti Das, Pritam Das and Arpan Roy.
Mukesh Ojha, Pritam Bhattacharya and Prithviraj Chakraborty took leave from work on Friday to watch back-to-back shows of Fan in different theatres, only to be denied by the houseful board at their second port of call. After catching the 9am show at INOX (South City), the trio had headed for Menoka to see the 12.15pm show but didn’t get tickets. They promise to be back. “We loved Fan so much that we decided to watch it again in a single-screen theatre just to get the feel of watching it with his crazy fans. Unfortunately, we didn’t get tickets; so we will have to come back,” said Prithviraj, a resident of Baghajatin. Fan reminded Mukesh of SRK’s earlier films like Darr and Baazigar. “It’s an awesome film. In the last five years, I have waited to see an SRK film like this. I couldn’t hold back my tears in the last scene,” he said.
Friday morning was special for 128 members of The Kings Club, dedicated to SRK. They gathered in front of Star Theatre at Hatibagan to watch the first show at 11.15am, carrying self-made SRK posters and red heart-shaped balloons. “Some of us came in a procession from Scottish Church College. SRK is a brand and an icon and we love him,” said Arnab Roy, founder of the 21-year-old fan club.
His wife Runa is also an SRK fan. “Actually, I am a bigger SRK fan because Arnab became a fan after Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1994), but I have been his fan since (TV shows) Fauji and Circus. Both of us have been visiting Mannat on November 2 every year for the last seven years,” Runa said.
Some members of the club were dressed like Gaurav, the “fan” in Fan, but one face stood out: that of Rieko Izuchi (below).
“I contacted The Kings Club over Twitter and expressed my interest in coming over and being a part of the celebrations. I am having a great time. It’s a carnival kind of atmosphere here. I became SRK’s fan after watching Om Shanti Om eight years ago. I even attended his birthday celebrations that he had organised for fans in Mumbai last year,” smiled the solo traveller from Osaka.
Reporting by Ratnalekha Mazumdar and Malancha Dasgupta; pictures by Pabitra Das and Sayantan Ghosh
